What Are the Ethics Of Book-Keeping? An Accounting Guide

When a business grows and thrives, the foremost requirement that arises is for maintaining the accounts perfectly. An organisation needs to juggle between various taxes like that on sales, income, payroll, value-added, property, transfer taxes etc. Over and above it, each country or state has its own set of rules that a company needs to adhere to. Most of the companies hire the services of a bookkeeper who is the native of the land and knows all about the taxes prevalent there. This makes handling of bookkeeping and accounting easier.

While bookkeeping involves the recording of all financial transactions like sales, purchases, payments etc., it also needs to follow certain ethics. Maintaining the books also involves the company’s tax obligations and hence a legal angle is also included. Thus, the person responsible for accounts should have the highest of the ethical standards.

Bookkeeping also involves creating invoices for various expenditures and paying the bills. Thus, those responsible for accounts need to be honest, accurate, up-to-date in their recordings, and quick to spot and rectify mistakes (if any).

Besides adhering to all the rules and regulations of the land, you also need to conduct in accordance with the rules and ethos of the company you are working for. The ethics also dictate that the bookkeeper should take up only those tasks that they are qualified to do and are confident that they can do justice to it.

It is the duty of a bookkeeper to keep the client’s information safe. Any files, documents or paper trails that come to them should be held securely. There should be no breach of information in any way. If the data is sent online or there are some digital files, then they should be encrypted so as to keep them secure in case of a hack or unauthorised access. All physical data should be stored in full security and appropriate measures should be taken so that no unauthorised people can have access to it.

The bookkeeper is not only required to maintain the highest standards in professional life but needs to behave appropriately in their private lives as well. If such a person gets involved in any criminal offence in his private life, it not only affects his or her image but also tarnishes the image of the company he or she works for.

The bookkeeping ethics involve truthfulness, being diligent in what you do, have knowledge about the laws of the land and be careful in all you do.